Why Did You Leave?
by assyriansquint
Summary: What would've happened if Booth and Brennan talked about why they left each other for a year? Were they doing it to protect one another? One-shot about their conversation. Post Daredevil in the Mold, pre-Hole in the Heart. Enjoy!


**A/N: Hey! This is just a quick little one-shot that's been on my mind! It's just a short little thing about what would've happened if B&B talked about leaving each other for a year. I know I should be updating my other story "The Baby in the Bond" and I'm reeeally sorry I haven't been lately. But I've just been so busy and I had to write this before I forgot it lol. So anyway, I hope you enjoy it! Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

"There seems to be fracturing on the left distal radius and ulna. Remember to catalog these injuries in your report, Mr. Vaziri."

"Of course Dr. Brennan." the young Persian intern said walking off the platform to finish his work. It had been a long day full of corpses and blood and murder, the usual. It was nine o'clock at night and Brennan stayed late to scan over their newest corpse. There was a swoosh sound and the automatic sliding doors opened to a cocky FBI agent standing in the doorway. He nonchalantly slid his ID card in its slot and walked towards the examination table to join his partner.

"Hey Bones. Ready to go?" Booth asked cheerfully.

"I can't leave now. Arastoo and I are examining the body."

"Bones. You've been working too hard. You worked 24/7 on the suicide case before this one. You need a break."

There was a body found hanging to a ceiling fan in the basement of a house. A woman by the name of Anna Parkins, aged 34 committed suicide after her boyfriend moved, on account of business, and came back with another woman. This devastation resulted in hanging herself. The case was closed two days ago.

"Fine. I'll come with you. Can we pick up Thai food on the way? I'm starving and I haven't eaten anything all day."

"Yeah sure Bones, anything." he told his partner warm and sincerely.

"My place okay?" Brennan asked hoping her partner would accept her offer. "Perfect. Now if you don't mind I would like to go now." Booth helped Brennan out of her lab coat and they left to walk for the SUV shortly after.

The car ride was a silent one. Both just tapping their fingers on the dash on the way to Brennan's house. The aroma of their take-out resting on the back seat lingered throughout the car. Curiosity overcame Booth and he broke the silence with a question.

"So, did that last case seem familiar to you in any way?"

Brennan thought long and hard about her response. "No, I don't think so. Why? Should it?"

"No, Bones. I was just wondering." Brennan just nodded in acceptance of his reply. They arrived at her expensively large and quiet apartment building about five minutes later. They carried their food up to the apartment with their mouths watering at the delicious smell.

"Please, make yourself at home." Brennan said with a smile.

"Great. Thanks Bones." He slumped over to the couch and rested his tired feet on the coffee table. "So... Are you sure the suicide case didn't ring a bell to you?"

"No. I don't see any connection. Why?"

"Well, you know, it's just... a guy tells a woman he loves her, he leaves and comes back with a different woman."

"I don't know what that means."

"It means that we were in that same position!" It came out louder and harsher than he intended.

"What? How are we in that same position?" Brennan placed the freshly unwrapped food on the kitchen counter and went over to the living room to join Booth.

"Bones, don't you get it? Before we both went our separate ways, I-" The words wouldn't seem to come out. "I- told you my feelings for you. Then you went to the Mapoopoo islands and left me to find someone else."

"Ok, first of all, for the hundredth time, it's _Maluku_. And second of all, what do you mean I left you? You went to Afghanistan. It's not like you stayed here the whole time trying to mend your ever so broken heart." She added sarcastically. "If you had meant what you said that night in front of the Hoover, you would've fought for me. You wouldn't have let me go so easily. Anthropologically speaking, men fight for their lovers until they reach a firm conquest and triumph. Instead, you come back and show me a picture of the new love of your life. And you expect me to be ok with that?"

It became quiet for a minute. Booth spoke up gently, almost as if he was whispering to her. "Bones, it's not like that. I left because I couldn't stand to come to work every day for a year and see everyone I always see every day and have the one person... The one person I actually want to see gone. You made the decision to leave first. And I didn't fight for you because I wanted you to be happy. If a relationship with me isn't what you want, then fine. So be it. I'd rather have you happy than forcing you to be with me if you're not ready.

Once again, silence filled the air. A small tear gently glided down Brennan's cheek. She reached a hand up to wipe it away. "Would you like to know why I left?"

"Yeah. Yeah I would." Booth leaned in towards her to listen to the answer he'd been waiting months for, more intensively.

"I regretted my rejection the moment I said it. But it was too late and you said you would move on from me. I agreed to go to Maluku because I wanted to see if I could stand being away from you for so long. I said to myself that if I missed you as much as I thought I would, then I would come back to D.C. and ask for a second chance. I thought about you all the time. I dreamt about you, I talked about you. You were the only thing on my mind. Why do you think we found nothing on that dig? I was too preoccupied thinking about you. We met by the coffee cart seven months later and I was about to tell you that I felt the same way you felt about me before we left. Then you took out that stupid picture of Hannah and I felt broken. Like I had been miraculously shattered into a million pieces. Metaphorically, of course."

"Is that why you told me you made a mistake during the Lauren Eames case? You said you missed your chance. Did you actually mean that?" He was almost in tears himself seeing his partner open up about her tragedies.

"Of course I meant it, Booth. I didn't know if I would ever get a second chance with you. I couldn't stand the thought of you two being together forever. I know jealously is pointless and insane but I experienced it whenever she was around. I woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat from a nightmare of you two getting married and spending the rest of your lives happy and without me in the picture. When you broke up with Hannah, I wanted to win you back. But you were so upset and I didn't want to pressure you."

They looked at each other. Their faces a few inches away from each other. They looked right into each other's eyes and everything around them melted away. Booth fought back the urge to kiss her right then and there.

"So, the question is... Do you love me, Bones?"

"Booth, you know I do not believe in love. It's all chemicals in the brain. But I get this feeling whenever I'm around you. Like the whole world has just spontaneously disappeared and we're the only two left. It's just, whenever I kiss you, I get this feeling like none I've ever experienced before. I can't explain it, I can only feel it. But if I did believe in love, this is exactly what it would be like."

"So what you're saying is that when we kiss, you feel sparks. Like fireworks? Fourth of July parade? Stuff like that?" Brennan took his hand in hers and they both felt an electric shock mix between them.

"Exactly like that."

"Bones, what happened between me and Hannah was in the past. I'm ready to move on with my life. With the _love_ of my life."

"And who might that be?"

"You. You Bones. You. It always has been and it always will be." He hesitated a bit knowing what he said next would change their relationship forever. "I love you." Once again, a tear trickled down Brennan's face but this time, Booth was the one to wipe it away for her. "I love you too Booth."

That was all she needed to say for Booth to know that it was the perfect time to seal her mouth with his. The kiss was slow but passionate at first. Then it grew and both of them put all their effort into it holding onto each other like they'd lose one another if they ever even come _close_ to letting go. When they pulled apart, they looked deeply into each other's eyes.

"Was that the feeling you were talking about?"

"Yes. I even experience it when I have my dreams about you. But, it doesn't happen here on the couch."

Booth cocked one eyebrow realizing what she was implying. He decided to challenge her. "Oh yeah, and where might that me?" he eyed her suggestively.

"In our bedroom." She smiled and took his hand leading her into her room where they would spend the rest of the night declaring their love for each other.

"Did she say _our _bedroom?" Booth thought before getting lost in Brennan's warm embrace.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!**


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